All I Want Is You
by Tanguay18
Summary: Someone that Sara hasn't heard from in a long time suddenly calls her and asks her to come visit. Sara turns to Grissom for support and advice. COMPLETE!
1. Confessions

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** Okay, I think it's common knowledge that I do not own CSI, I only love the show and like to write fanfics for it.

_Spoilers: Brief reference to Butterflied._

**Chapter One: Confessions**

Sara fought back a yawn as she headed for the door. She'd been working this crime scene for hours in close proximity to Grissom. It was suddenly too much for her, and she excused herself to go outside and take a breather. She started pacing on the front porch of the home that they were currently processing. Grissom came out a few minutes later and Sara stopped pacing.

"Are you okay?" Grissom asked, the usual tone of concern in his voice.

"Yeah. I'm just. It's. I don't know. I'm fine," Sara tried to explain.

"You just got up so suddenly and came out here, I thought you might be sick," Grissom said.

Sara almost laughed, "I never get sick. That's not it at all."

"Then what is it?" Grissom looked into her eyes.

"I've just been inside for too long, I wanted to come out and get some fresh air," Sara said.

"Okay," Grissom cocked his head at her, "if you need anything, you know where I'll be."

"I'll be back inside in a few more minutes, I figure if I clear my mind out here maybe I'll see something I've missed before," Sara lied.

Grissom went back into the house, leaving Sara alone on the porch. She didn't want to continue processing the scene, not that it was too gruesome for her. Suddenly she just didn't want to be alone with Grissom anymore. She went back inside and wordlessly kneeled next to Grissom and forced herself to continue working. Sara could feel Grissom's eyes on her and she turned to him.

"What?" she asked.

Grissom startled her by reaching out to her, "You've got a loose strand of hair."

Sara felt goose bumps form as his hand brushed against her cheek. She wanted desperately to lean into his touch, but restrained herself. Grissom was confused as she turned away from him. He put his hand on her shoulder and carefully turned her back to face him. To his great surprise she was crying.

"Sara?" he asked, at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"What's wrong Sara?" he inquired.

"It's stupid," she wiped angrily at the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Please tell me what's wrong, you can't tell me nothing is bothering you. I've never seen you cry, Sara," Grissom told her.

Sara sighed deeply, "I can't do this anymore. I'm so alone."

"What can't you do anymore?" Grissom was confused.

"This! You and me. I don't know if you've ever noticed but I swear we are meant to be together. Whenever you're close to me I feel safe and warm. I know I've tried to spark something before and I know now that you pushed me away because you were afraid, Catherine told me you had to have surgery," Sara rushed, "don't tell me you don't feel something special when you come into contact with me. I know you feel it too. You have to. I may have accused you of not having feelings before, but I realize now that you probably feel things more than any of us. You just don't let your emotions control you. Please don't push me away again. I don't think I can take this loneliness anymore."

Grissom froze at her words, she had managed to hit him very close to home. He didn't know how to respond to her outpouring. After staring at a sobbing Sara for a moment he suddenly felt bold and gathered her into his arms. He began to slowly rock her back and forth.

"This probably sounds stupid, but I'm afraid of you too Sara, it wasn't just because I had to have surgery. I found out, also through Catherine, that you heard what I said to Lurie that one day. What I said, I meant. I was afraid when you came along and I know you fell in love with me. I thought that I could never be enough for you. I had a hard time accepting that anyone as beautiful and intelligent as you could be in love with me," Grissom whispered.

"That really hurt, Gil," Sara used his first name, "I haven't felt the same since then. I don't know if you know it, but those words cut me deep. You know when I took that time off after my…uh, incident? I seriously thought about committing suicide."

"Sara, no," Grissom gasped.

"I couldn't do it in the end because I thought of how much it would hurt you. I knew you would take it personally," Sara sighed, "so I forced myself into going to see a counselor. I did it hoping that if I changed, you could change too. But things have just been the same. And the other day, I saw Sofia flirting with you and it killed me inside, Gris."

"Oh Sara, I don't like Sofia in that way, I promise," Grissom gently kissed the top of Sara's head.

She leaned away from him to see his face, "Aren't you lonely Grissom?"

"Honestly, yes, Sara, I am," Grissom admitted, "I don't know if I can give you what you want."

"Stop doubting yourself," Sara snapped, "you don't even know what I want. I know that I have loved you for so long that I can't even picture having a life with anyone else."

"But what if I'm not good enough?" Grissom asked, "then what will you do? You'll want to leave Vegas because things will get awkward."

"I'm willing to give this a shot, but I need you to be in it with me," Sara looked deep into his eyes, "tell me you don't feel something for me."

Grissom looked back into her deep, brown eyes, "I do feel something for you, Sara. If you want to give this a shot, I'll go along with you."

"I think this might make us both very happy," Sara said.

"I have been hiding my feelings. I'll try to do better about letting you know how I feel," Grissom sighed, "I want you to be happy. I want to be happy too."

Sara smiled at him, "I want us to be happy too. And I think the only way we will be happy is if there is an 'us'."

Grissom smiled in return, "I haven't seen your beautiful smile in so long. I guess I was in denial that something had changed in you. I'm glad that you're willing to give this stubborn old man a chance, even though I probably don't deserve it."

"Oh you do," she said, "I am not exactly the easiest person in the world to try and get along with."

"Am I interrupting something here?" Brass smirked at the sight in front of him.

Sara quickly jumped back from Grissom and turned away from Brass to dry her face. Grissom whirled around to find his friend standing in the doorway of the home.

"Don't stop on a count of me," Brass winked at his friend.

"Jim, you have the worst timing in the world, what do you want?" Grissom asked.

"I was just going to inform you that I was able to get that warrant you wanted," Brass said.

"Good, I'll meet you outside in a few minutes," Grissom said forcefully, practically shoving Brass out the door.

"They're all going to know about this," Sara spoke, "Brass is going to tell the entire crime lab that he found me in your arms alone at a crime scene."

A/N: I guess you can consider this new story a Christmas present for you. I must admit that try as I might to do otherwise, I kept coming back to a Grissom/Sara story. I must be a hopeless romantic…lol, hope you enjoy the new story. Happy Holidays. Also, I had a heck of a time coming up with a title, so if it's not the best, please forgive me.


	2. Everyone's Business

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** Okay, I think it's common knowledge that I do not own CSI, I only love the show and like to write fanfics for it.

_Spoilers: I forget the name of the episode, but there are several mentions of the DNA lab explosion. _

**Chapter Two: Everyone's Business**

"Are you ready to go in?" Grissom asked.

"I bet Brass beat us here," Sara sighed, "and we both know he wouldn't keep something like that to himself.

"I know, and look what time it is, the swing shift is here," Grissom raised his eyebrows, "that means Nick, Warrick and Catherine are all here."

"Well they'd figure it out eventually anyway, they are all CSIs," Sara pointed out.

"Okay, let's go in, just take our evidence to trace and don't say anything," Grissom said, "pretend like everything is normal."

"Yeah that's going to happen," Sara muttered sliding out of the SUV.

Sara followed Grissom into the crime lab. She knew that their "cool" act wouldn't last long. They were bound to run into someone who wouldn't let them just play it cool. It was impossible to get across the lab without running into someone they knew. And their friends were bound to be on the lookout for them, having their little piece of news from Brass.

"Sara, Grissom, hello," Catherine said in a knowing tone.

Grissom paused and turned to face her, "Hello Catherine."

"Brass tells me he found you and Sara at a crime scene," Catherine raised her eyebrows.

"It's no big deal, I was upset and Grissom comforted me," Sara put in.

Catherine smiled, "Well let me just say, it's about damn time!"

"What?" Grissom asked.

"Oh come on, Gil, everyone around here knows that you and Sara are meant for each other," Catherine laughed.

"It's that obvious?" Sara asked.

"You two are really something," Catherine shook her head, "it's so obvious that you two have been in love with each other for a long time. We actually started taking bets on how long it would take you two to finally admit your feelings to each other."

"Who said we were in love?" Grissom inquired.

"Please, I can tell by the way you look at each other, something changed at that crime scene, and may I be the first to say, I'm happy for you," Catherine hugged them both, "I have been dying to see you two happy."

"Wait, did you say you guys were placing bets on us?" Sara suddenly asked.

"Uh…yeah," Catherine waved it off, "it was all in good nature."

"So who won?" Grissom asked.

"Doc Robbins actually," Catherine smiled.

"He was in on it too?" Grissom shook his head.

"Everyone was in on it. I was beginning to think that I would have to lock you guys in a closet together or something," Catherine chuckled.

"At any rate, I just want to say thank you Catherine. If you hadn't told me about Grissom's surgery, I might have stayed mad at him and never gotten up the courage to say something to him," Sara smiled.

"Hey, I'd do anything to make my friends happy," Catherine said, then made a face as her pager went off, "well I've got to go now, see you guys around later."

Sara and Grissom went to log in all their new evidence. By the time they were finished, it was past the end of their shift. They both headed for the break room, figuring they would find some of their other colleagues in there.

"Okay, I've got one that's pretty bad," Nick said in a laughing tone, "this snake turns to his buddy and asks if they are poisonous. The other snake replies that he doesn't know and asks why his friend wants to know. His friend responds by saying, 'I just bit my lip.'"

Greg snorted, "How about this one? A guy walks into a bar and says ouch."

"Now that's bad," Warrick chuckled.

"What are you guys doing?" Sara asked, entering the room just ahead of Grissom.

"Seeing who can tell the lamest jokes," Greg explained.

"I've got one," Grissom grinned, "these two fish swim into a wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'"

"Wow Gris, I didn't know you had any bad jokes…or really that you knew any jokes at all," Nick groaned, "I'd say that one was pretty pathetic though."

"So why are we telling lame jokes anyway?" Warrick asked, "I forgot what brought this up."

"I don't even remember now," Greg shook his head, "but I can honestly say I've never laughed like this at those stupid jokes."

"How did your case go?" Nick asked Sara and Grissom, giving them a confidential wink.

"Just get to it, we know you are all dying to know if the rumor is true," Grissom rolled his eyes.

"Okay, did Brass really catch you guys making out?" Greg asked.

"What?" Grissom asked.

"No!" Sara shook her head vehemently, "I don't know where you got that from. I was upset and Grissom hugged me. Brass came in and I was in his arms. Nothing more."

"Gossip can get pretty far from the truth pretty fast," Warrick laughed, "I didn't think you two were that unprofessional."

"Are there any dates in your near future?" Nick asked with a smile.

"Maybe, you're not welcome to come along if there are," Grissom joked.

"Seriously, if you guys are getting together, this is great," Greg smiled, "I might not have thought so a while ago. But now that I'm a man and over my boyish crush on Sara, I would love to see you two go out."

"Everyone keeps saying that," Sara raised her eyebrows, "I really think everyone was going to conspire against us to make us admit our feelings to each other."

"That wouldn't have been so bad, I'd rather it wasn't a public event, but something needed to change. I could feel the tension growing between us," Grissom suddenly grabbed Sara's hand in his own, "come with me to my office."

Sara followed as Grissom dragged her down the hall. Grissom closed the door carefully behind them and met Sara's questioning gaze.

"I just thought our conversation was turning more private," he explained, "it really occurred to me just now how rude I've been to you Sara. I'm sorry that I'm a stupid old man."

"Gil, you are not a stupid old man. You are a very intelligent man. I understand that it's hard for you to recognize your feelings. I'm a lot like you in that respect. You may not have realized it, but I'd been working up the nerve to ask you out the entire day of the explosion. I was trying to catch you alone when the lab exploded. Then I lost it for a while and I guess asking you to dinner when you were mad at me was not the best timing," Sara said.

"It was really that hard for you?" Grissom asked in surprise.

"That whole day I had been avoiding you, then I suddenly decided to go for it, and I couldn't get you alone. I was watching you talking to someone and the next thing I knew, I was flying through the air," Sara told him.

"And when you got the nerve to ask again, I just turned you away. You're right, I was upset with you for what you did at that guy's apartment. But there was also the stress of realizing my hearing was really going downhill. I was afraid that I would need an operation, but I wouldn't admit my problem to anyone. The day I went in for surgery, I confessed to Catherine who kept it to herself. I suppose I need to really work on letting people in," Grissom sighed.

"I think we both need to change. We can work on it together. Let's get out of here and go grab breakfast together," Sara suggested.

"All right, let's go," Grissom agreed.

"You just realize that now our relationship is going to be everyone's business," Sara shook her head.

A/N: Hope you all had a good holiday.


	3. Sara's Past Catches Up

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** Okay, I think it's common knowledge that I do not own CSI, I only love the show and like to write fanfics for it.

**Chapter Three: Sara's Past Catches Up**

Sara's cell phone rang as she was leaving a scene behind Catherine. She didn't immediately recognize the number, but it was a California area code. She excused herself for a moment to take the call.

"Hello," she answered tentatively.

"Is this Sara Sidle?" a voice asked.

"Yes," Sara answered.

"Sara, it's me, your mother," Laura Sidle spoke.

Sara froze, "I uh, I haven't heard from you in years."

"I know," Laura sighed.

"You're completely finished with your sentence now, parole and all?" Sara asked.

"I've been done for a while, I just haven't been able to find a number to call you," Laura said.

"If you really wanted to, you could have found me by now," Sara started.

"Sara, don't start. Not over the phone. The truth is I was still mad at you for years, but now…I'm not getting any younger. I want you to come visit me," Laura finished.

"I can't do this right now, I'm at work," Sara suddenly said, "call me back in a couple hours."

"Sara, I haven't heard from you in a long time and now when I get a hold of you, you won't talk to me? Maybe you haven't changed," Laura said angrily.

"Mom, I told you I'm at work, I have to go, my co-worker is waiting for me," Sara hung up before her mother could protest.

Sara walked over to Catherine's waiting SUV and slid wordlessly into the passenger seat.

"Is everything okay? You look upset," Catherine noted.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just got a call from someone I haven't heard from in a long time," Sara said as if it was no big deal.

"I see," Catherine started the engine, "well you know if you a woman to talk to, I'm here for you."

"Thanks," Sara smiled briefly, "I'll remember that."

Catherine knew when it was not a good idea to press Sara for information. She hated that Sara was so private, just like Grissom. Neither one of them let anyone inside their private worlds. Of course, that may change now that the two had admitted their feelings to one another and started to date. Still, she wished that she knew more about Sara. She considered Sara a friend and it was hard to not really know much about Sara's life. No one really did, at least not anyone in Las Vegas.

When they got back to the lab, Sara took her evidence to log it in without saying another word to Catherine. Whoever had called Sara, said something to upset her because she had been happy and talkative before her phone rang. As soon as Sara finished with her evidence, she headed for Grissom's office.

"Gil, are you busy?" Sara asked.

"Not too busy for you, come in," he smiled.

"My mother just called me when we were leaving our crime scene," Sara blurted.

"Uh…okay, and this is a bad thing, why?" Grissom was confused.

"I haven't talked to my mother in a long, long time," Sara sighed, trying to decide if it was okay for her to spill the whole story to Grissom.

"I'm guessing something happened between you?" Grissom moved to close his door, making sure there was no way for someone to overhear their conversation.

"When I was twelve years old, my dad died of alcohol poisoning. My parents were always very lax, they used to be hippies. So after he was gone, she let the B and B they had run together gradually fall apart. She stopped maintaining it and people quit staying there because it was in such bad shape. When she finally got over mourning my dad, she started to see a lot of guys. She got into drugs and she was always drinking," Sara paused, trying to calm herself down.

"I never knew any of that, Sara, I'm so sorry to hear that your childhood was like that," Grissom was stunned.

"That's not all," Sara took a deep breath, "one of the guys she was dating came into my bedroom in the middle of the night. He raped me."

Grissom couldn't find words and only stared at Sara, her brown eyes full of pain.

"I was old enough that I knew it was wrong, I called the cops and they removed me from the home. My mom was arrested on several charges including child endangerment and possession of drugs. I became a ward of the state and I never heard how long she was in jail for. I was passed around from foster home to foster home. Some of the foster parents were abusive. I got beat up a few times. When I was 18, I got the heck out of California and went to Harvard. I never looked back until my mom called just today," Sara finished shakily.

Grissom's eyes were filled with tears at the end of her story and he quickly pulled Sara into a hug. She cried on his shoulder and they stayed like that for a while, not caring who saw them through the windows. For the moment, Sara and Grissom were the only people that mattered in the world.

"I've never told anyone all of that before," Sara whispered into his shirt.

"I had no idea your life was like that," Grissom stroked her back.

"I tried to just put all of it behind me. Pretend it never happened. I can only imagine all the stares if people knew that was how I grew up," Sara sniffled, "that's why I was so happy when you asked me to come to Las Vegas, I thought getting away from California was a good idea."

"It's not healthy to just ignore memories like that," Grissom started.

"Please don't start that talk," Sara sighed, "I haven't repressed all these memories. I think about them every day. That was a big part of why I started drinking. There were other factors, but that's not important. If it hadn't been for nearly getting arrested for a DUI, I would have probably continued getting worse. Now I see a counselor, and it helps some, but I don't think I'll ever get over this completely. Anyway, I think my mom wants me to visit her, but I don't think I can do it."

Grissom was still reeling from all the details of Sara's life. The saddest part was how matter-of-factly she had told the story. He knew when he first met Sara that she had a troubled past, but he never knew just what had happened to her. The fact that she was with him today, a successful CSI was amazing to him. He couldn't understand how a person with an upbringing like hers could turn out to be a such a beautiful, amazing woman.

Before Grissom could speak again, Sara's cell phone rang again. She looked at the number and knew it was her mother again.

"I have to take this outside," Sara got up and left Grissom dumbfounded at his desk.

A/N: Happy New Year to you all. I want to thank everyone who has read/reviewed my stories. 2004 was a good year for me at Fan Fiction. I hope 2005 is just as good, if not better. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter, the next one will come faster than this one. It's just something about being at home making me not want to write.


	4. After All These Years

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** All right, so now I own CSI seasons 3 and 4 on DVD...but that doesn't entitle me to a darn thing does it? So if I were to be sued, CBS would be disappointed to find out that I owe more than I am worth (stupid student loans).

**Chapter Four: After All These Years**

_Quick A/N:_ I know that this logically has to occur after _No Humans Involved_, but I'm going to pretend Ecklie was never promoted and the shifts were never broken up. ;)

"Are you sure?" Sara looked questioningly into Grissom's eyes.

"Look, you need to do this and I know that you could use some support. I'm overdue for vacation time and I want to be there for you," Grissom explained once more.

"Okay," Sara relaxed a little and smiled, "thanks."

"I care about you Sara. No one else knows about your past, so it makes sense for me to come along," Grissom reasoned.

"This is why I love you, so caring and understanding. I can't believe I ever accused you of not having feelings," Sara wrapped her arms around his neck, "so our trip is going to leave the night shift shorthanded."

"I don't think that's our problem," Grissom started, "I'm sure they have someone to fill in for us."

Sara took a deep breath and rested her head on Grissom's shoulder, "I guess I'm just trying to make up any excuse not to go."

Grissom hugged Sara tighter and whispered into her ear, "This is going to be okay. I'm going to be there for you."

"I know, but it's just bringing up so much of the past," Sara finally pulled away, "I guess I should get plane tickets for us."

"I'll head over to work early and put in the proper paperwork for your leave. I shouldn't have a problem getting my vacation either," Grissom checked his watch, "I'll see you at work."

"Bye," Sara kissed him quickly as he headed for the door.

-------------------At a hotel in California--------------------

"Sara you can do this, remember, I'm going with you this time just to check things out," Grissom soothed.

"You're right, let's go before I change my mind again," Sara shook her head.

"She is your mother after all, you shouldn't be so afraid of her," Grissom said as they got into their rental car.

"It's just been such a long time since I've seen her, and we didn't exactly on the best of terms," Sara explained.

"You didn't see her at all after you were put into foster care?" Grissom questioned.

"No. There were a few letters, but I moved around so much, I guess she quit trying to keep track of me. Then all of the sudden a week ago, she called me," Sara answered.

"It will probably be a very tense reunion, but just remember to give her a chance to explain herself. You might be tempted to just get angry with her, but trust me, it's good to listen to someone," Grissom counseled.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this kind of stuff," Sara looked at him sideways.

"I have a lot of experience from the job," Grissom said, "I've seen a lot of families torn apart."

"I still don't know much about your past," Sara noted.

"I know, and I know I said I should do a better job of letting people in, but we'll save that for another time. We're here," Grissom took the keys out of the ignition.

Sara looked at the paper in her hand and then eyed the apartment building. This was the correct address, this was where the mother she hadn't since she was thirteen years old lived. Sara was so absorbed in herself that she hadn't even noticed Grissom leaving the car and was very startled when her door opened.

"Ready to go in?" Grissom asked.

"No, but let's do it," Sara tried to stand up, but was restrained.

Grissom chuckled, "You might try taking your seatbelt off first."

"Oh," Sara flushed red.

"It's okay, I'm sure you have a lot on your mind right now," he offered her a hand.

"Thanks again for coming with me. If I was by myself, I never would have gotten this far," Sara took his hand and stood on shaky legs.

Grissom and Sara entered the apartment building and asked someone inside where they could find the apartment they were looking for. Sara found herself standing in front of the apartment, breathing heavily. Grissom nodded to her and she knocked lightly on the door. The door swung open a moment later and revealed Laura Sidle who looked like a much older version of Sara.

"Sara," Laura spoke first.

"Mother," Sara's voice wavered slightly.

"You look well," Laura stated after taking her daughter's appearance, "and who is this with you?"

"This is my, uh, friend Gil Grissom," Sara found her voice.

"Hello Mrs. Sidle," Grissom shook her hand briefly.

"Come inside, please," Laura stepped back from the door allowing her daughter and companion to enter.

Laura got Sara and Grissom situated on the couch. Then she went into the kitchen to fetch drinks for them. Grissom excepted a glass of lemonade, but Sara insisted on water. Once she was done playing hostess, Laura took a seat across from her daughter.

"Well. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Laura started uncertain of what to say.

"Yes it has," Sara replied, equally uncertain.

"How are you Sara?" Laura asked.

"I'm fine," Sara answered shortly.

"Okay. Who exactly is this friend of yours? How do you know him?" Laura tried to get her daughter talking.

"We work together," Sara stated.

Laura turned to Grissom, "Is that so Mr.… uh, what was your name again?"

"Grissom," Grissom supplied, "and actually it's Dr. Grissom. Yes I've worked with Sara for several years now."

"What exactly do you two do?" Laura asked pleasantly, glad someone was speaking.

"We're crime scene investigators for the Las Vegas police department," Grissom replied.

"Wow, Sara, sounds like you have a very interesting job. I never knew you were so interested in law enforcement," Laura turned back to her daughter.

"You'd know if you'd ever bothered to speak to me before. But you waited all these years to suddenly call me," Sara narrowed her eyes, "you don't honestly believe we can just sit around and chat like we're friends."

Laura grimaced, "I know we have a lot of problems to work out, but I was hoping we could put that off for a little while. Can't we just catch up on our lives a little bit?"

"We haven't spoken in twenty years and you think we can just catch up like nothing happened?" Sara asked angrily.

"Sara, please. I know you're upset with me. Please just put that aside for tonight and let's have a nice dinner. We can deal with our problems later, I'm sure your friend doesn't want to sit here and listen to us argue," Laura pleaded.

Sara looked into Grissom's eyes then spoke again, "Okay. For tonight we can pretend like everything is okay."

Laura smiled, "Good. Let's go out for dinner."

A/N: I'm only 19, but I swear I'm senile. I uploaded this chapter on January 1st, but forgot to add it to my story. lol, hope you enjoyed it.


	5. Confronting Laura

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** All of us know that I don't own CSI by now, don't we?

**Chapter Five: Confronting Laura**

The rest of the evening with Laura had been very awkward. There had been several tense moments when Sara felt like either yelling at her mother or bursting into tears. For the most part, they managed to have a civil meal and part ways with plans for meeting again the next evening alone. Grissom and Sara returned to their hotel where they shared a connected suite.

"That wasn't entirely horrible," Sara admitted as she removed her shoes and took her hair out of its pony-tail.

"It wasn't," Grissom agreed.

"I know things were tense and that was a weird situation to put you in," Sara apologized.

"You don't have to apologize. I'm the one who volunteered to be here for you, remember?" Grissom said.

"I know, you are the best," Sara smiled at him.

Grissom laughed, "I know I am."

"Don't get too full of yourself, there," she rolled her eyes.

"Think you can handle tomorrow by yourself?" he was suddenly serious again.

"I think it'll be okay. I know it's going to be rough, but we need to talk out our problems," she sighed, "if there's any chance of our having a decent relationship again, we both have to confront our issues with one another."

"Good, and remember, if you need to get away at any point, I'm only a phone call away," Grissom reminded her.

"I'm glad we finally decided to get together," Sara said, "I don't know where I might be right now if it wasn't for having such a wonderful man with me for support."

"I take good care of the people I care about," Grissom took her hands in his, "and I love you Sara."

"I love you too, Gil, more than I have ever loved anyone before in my life," Sara admitted, "I think that's why there was so much hesitation on my part about a relationship. I was afraid of being in love."

"Am I all that scary?" Grissom teased.

"No, but you _can_ be intimidating," Sara pointed out, "remember how you used to make Greg so nervous? Your whole silent, keep to yourself manner can really put people off."

"And that's precisely why I'm working on that," Grissom kissed Sara's hands gently, "I'm going to leave you alone now, though. I'm sure you have a lot to think about and you need to try and get some sleep tonight."

"Okay, goodnight then," Sara was actually grateful for the time alone. It was almost frightening how Grissom could read her thoughts so well.

Grissom gave her a soft goodnight kiss, "Goodnight honey."

Sara smiled at his back as he retreated to the door that separated their rooms. She could only ever recall his having used a pet name for her once, and that was when she was injured in the explosion. At the time, it hadn't even occurred to her because she was in a state of shock. It was only later, thinking back on that day that she realized Grissom had called her 'honey'. She liked the sound of it.

--------------------Back at Laura's place---------------------

"So I want to start off by saying, I'm sorry I got rude with you on the phone when I first called you. It was just that it felt so good to hear your voice, and then you said you had to go after only a few sentences, I snapped for a minute there," Laura apologized.

"Why has it been so long, mom?" Sara asked.

Laura sat back heavily, closing her eyes for a moment, "I guess I should tell you the truth from the beginning. When your father died, I'll admit, I fell apart. I know I let things get really bad and I was secretly glad when you had me arrested. Of course at the time, all you saw and heard was my anger. But I was never mad at you, sweetie, you have to understand. Once I got into the drugs I wanted desperately to find a way out, but I couldn't do it on my own. When you called the police after that man raped you, I was very angry at you. It took me a little while to realize just how awful I had been acting and that I should never have taken my emotions out on you. Once I had some time in jail, though, I realized that it was probably for the better. It was never your fault that I got myself into trouble. I drug you down with me."

"I thought you didn't realize how miserable you were making me," Sara said softly.

"Oh I knew, I was just too addicted to the drugs to really care. I'm so sorry for that. I know at first when I was jail I responded to your letters and the foster homes sounded terrible. I figured eventually you'd get into a home where you could thrive, you were always so much smarter than me Sara," Laura beamed at her daughter, "you know when you were nine years old, you were creating business models for our B and B."

Sara gave her mother a half-smile, "I remember, you told me to chill out and not worry about things like that. You said I was too young to be worried about business."

"Getting back to your question, I stopped answering your letters because I heard you were doing so well in high school. I figured you were better off without me in your life to screw things up for you. I still got the letters you sent through high school. I was never prouder than the day I heard you were going to Harvard. At that point, I hadn't written to you in so long, it was just easier not to. Of course, looking back I regret letting you go completely. When I got out of jail, I found out that you were in San Francisco. I almost came to see you, but then I thought that you probably had a successful life and were doing just fine without me. I was afraid that if I showed up in your life again, I'd just end up hurting you. So for all these years, I let you live your life by yourself. God, I've missed you so much," Laura looked into her daughter's eyes.

"You're my mother. I thought you hated me for all this time," Sara sniffled, "I thought you stopped writing because I was a failure and you wanted nothing to do with me."

"It was nothing like that sweetheart, you were too good for me," Laura embraced her, "you know your friend, Dr. Grissom, he told me about you. He adores you, says you are one of the best investigators he's ever worked with."

Sara pulled back, "He really said that?"

"Yes he did. You know I've never stopped being so proud of you. To this day, I am amazed that after the childhood you had, you still grew up to be this wonderful, intelligent, beautiful, successful woman," Laura shook her head.

Sara blushed, "I don't know what to even say to that."

"Be proud of yourself Sara, you are an amazing person. I feel lucky to have a daughter like you. Now, I know that you can't just forgive and forget completely, but can I be in your life again?" Laura asked.

Sara looked away, taking in all that had just passed between them. The things her mother had just told her changed a lot of what Sara thought about her. It was too fast to just say that she forgave her mother.

"I think I need to be alone to think for a while," Sara said, "you just drastically changed what I've been thinking for twenty years and I have some things to sort out."

Laura's face crumbled a little, "I understand. There's a park about three blocks from here…if you need somewhere to go and be alone."

"Thanks," Sara stood to leave, "I'll call you tomorrow maybe."

"Bye Sara," Laura watched her daughter leave.

Sara was too tired to go walk around the park her mother told her about. Instead, she hailed a cab because Grissom had driven her to her mother's apartment and she didn't feel like calling him for a ride. Her mind was racing and she knew it would do her some good to a good night's sleep before she confronted all she had just heard from her mom.

Almost as soon as Sara was inside her room, she heard a knock on the door that joined her room to Grissom's.

"Come in," she called wearily.

"Hey, I heard you come in," Grissom said.

"Yeah, just got back," Sara kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the nearest chair.

"How did things go?" Grissom inquired.

"I have a lot to think about," Sara sighed tiredly.

"Good or bad?" Grissom asked innocently.

"You know what? I don't feel like talking right now. Could you just leave me alone?" Sara snapped.

Grissom furrowed his brow, "I didn't mean to pry Sara."

"Well, you have a way of being nosy, don't you?" Sara narrowed her eyes at him, "do I have to physically push you through that door?"

Grissom looked hurt as he turned and went back to his own room. Sara waited for the door to close then spun and crawled onto her bed. She pulled the blankets over her head and cried like she hadn't done in years.

A/N: This chapter started off shorter, but it was an awkward break, so I just went ahead and put it all as one chapter. There are still more chapters to come.


	6. Apologies

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** All of us know that I don't own CSI by now, don't we?

**Chapter Six: Apologies**

Sara woke up early the next morning, took a quick shower and left before Grissom was awake. She headed for the park her mother had told her about the night before. She needed a lot of time to think, then she would pay her mother a visit when her mind was clearer.

Grissom heard Sara leave, deciding not to bother her. He was sure she had a lot on her mind and that she wasn't really mad at him. Still, it had hurt when she had yelled at him the previous night. He'd never had Sara mad at him since they had admitted their feelings to one another. Of course, it hurt when she yelled at him before, but now it was different. It seemed to have more of an effect on him than he'd expected. He actually lost a little sleep over it.

At around noon, Grissom's cell phone rang unexpectedly.

"Gil Grissom," he answered.

"Gil? It's Catherine," the other voice replied.

"Hello Catherine, how are things at the lab?" Grissom asked.

"That's exactly what I'm calling about. The director of personnel apparently found it suspicious that you and Sara took leave at the same time," Catherine began.

"What did you tell them?" Grissom rubbed his temple briefly.

"Nothing. They've been questioning our shift about whether anyone thought you two were acting different. We're sticking up for you. I said that Sara had family business to attend to and that you were more than due some vacation time," Catherine explained.

"Thank you," Grissom smiled.

"It's none of their business that you went with Sara for moral support," Catherine said, "you know, it's okay for you two to have a personal life. It's not directly against the rules to have a relationship with a co-worker, but they wouldn't be too happy about it. I think I managed to convince them to drop it for now. I just thought you should know in case it came up when you get back."

"I appreciate your concern, Cath," Grissom told her.

"So how are things going with Sara and her mother?" Catherine questioned.

"I'm not so sure. I went with her the other night for the first time they met. I thought it went well, a little awkward, especially with me there, but neither of them seemed like they were going to kill each other. Last night Sara went alone to talk with her mom and when she got back, she was not in a good mood. She left early this morning and I haven't heard from her since," Grissom informed Catherine.

"She still doesn't know you told me, does she?" Catherine asked.

"No. When she's in a better mood, and I tell her I had to tell someone because it was too much to handle by myself, I'm sure she'll be okay with it. You're one of my oldest and best friends," Grissom said.

"Okay, just call me if you need anything. Oh and the guys said to tell you hi," Catherine laughed, "they all miss you two."

"Tell them we say hi back," Grissom smiled.

"I hope everything turns out okay for Sara and for you," Catherine said, "I'll see you when you get back to Vegas."

"Goodbye, Cath," Grissom hung up.

-----------------Laura's Apartment-----------------

Laura was beginning to worry that she had not heard from Sara all day. It was nearly lunchtime. She decided that it was time to go to the park and see if Sara was there. Her motherly instincts were kicking in a little and she wanted to make sure her daughter was not harmed. She pulled on a jacket and made the short journey to the park. She immediately spotted Sara sitting on a swing, by herself, kicking at the dirt.

"Sara?" Laura cautiously approached her.

"Hey," Sara looked up briefly.

"Are you okay?" Laura asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sara replied, "I was just getting ready to come see you, actually."

"I'm sorry, I was just getting a little worried that I hadn't heard from you all day," Laura apologized.

"It's okay. I actually want to apologize to you. All this time, I've still been blaming you for losing contact with me. The truth is, I never really tried to find you either. The other day I did an internet search and found out that you had been paroled some time ago. I could have checked up on you sooner, but I was trying to ignore my past. When Dr. Grissom asked me to come to Vegas, I saw it as an out. He knew me, but not about my past and no one else in Las Vegas knew me. I thought it was a chance to start my life over, pretend the past never happened," Sara sighed, "so I'm sorry I never tried to contact you for so long either."

"Sweetie, you don't have to apologize to me. I don't blame you for trying to forget about the past. I can't imagine how hard life was for you. You don't often get a chance to start out new, and I don't blame you at all for wanting to pretend that your past never happened," Laura hugged her.

"I suppose we both have our issues to work through," Sara said.

Laura took a seat next to Sara, "Yes."

"I guess then, the answer to your question is yes. I can let you be a part of my life again," Sara smiled.

Now it was Laura's turn to sigh, "I'll admit when I first called you, if things went well, I was going to ask you to come back to California and live here with me. Now I see your life is good in Vegas and I can't ask you to give that up."

"You could always come to Vegas," Sara suggested.

"No, I don't think I could ever see myself living someplace like Las Vegas. I'm happy in California. You're happy in Nevada. Let's just keep living our lives the way they were, but we'll call and be sure to visit each other," Laura said.

"I think that could work. We could be more like a normal family," Sara agreed, "you know, visits on holidays and such."

"I bet we could make it work," Laura smiled, "I'm glad you came here. I was afraid that you might not."

"It was hard for me. That's why Grissom's with me, for support. Which reminds me, I was rather rude to him last night, I should go apologize," Sara suddenly stood.

"Come over for dinner again," Laura told her, "and bring your friend."

"Okay," Sara smiled, "I'll call you later."

"I'm sure he'll forgive you, he seems like a very lovely man," Laura smiled knowingly.

"How do you know?" Sara asked, incredulous.

"Mothers know. I can see in the way you two look at each other. I remember when I was in love with your father," Laura explained.

Sara left the park feeling much happier than she had in a long time. She felt bad for how she had treated Grissom the night before. She had a lot on her mind and she wasn't sure why she'd snapped at him the way she did. She was immediately sorry and had ended up crying herself to sleep over it. She knocked on their adjoining door as soon as she was in her room.

"Hey," she greeted him shyly.

"Hello," Grissom replied, moving aside for her to enter his room.

"Look, Gil, I'm so sorry for-" she started.

"You don't have to apologize," Grissom cut her off.

"I do, I was so rude to you for no reason," Sara protested.

"No, it's okay. I understand. You were stressed out from whatever happened between you and your mother. You weren't yourself and I know you didn't mean what you said," Grissom took her hands in his own.

Sara stared at him in disbelief, "How can you do it?"

"Do what?" he was confused.

"Be so understanding," she was on the verge of tears.

"It's quite simple, Sara, I love you," Grissom kissed her cheek gently.

"I love you too," Sara cried, "so, so much."

Grissom just smiled and admired her beautiful face.

"I don't understand how I waited so long to tell you how I felt. I just think of all the years I've missed, the time we could have been together. I still don't believe it's finally true," she whimpered.

"Don't regret the way things were, just be happy that we are here now. Together," he whispered, "all I want is you, Sara Sidle. I'm happy just to be with you."

Before they knew it, they had all their clothes off and they were on his bed, kissing each other all over. It felt so good to finally be together completely. Sara had never made love so passionately before and neither had Grissom. They knew that this was the first time either one of them had really been deeply in love and it felt amazing.

A/N: I don't know about the ending to this chapter, I hope it wasn't too bad.


	7. Dinner With Laura

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** All of us know that I don't own CSI by now, don't we?

**Chapter Seven: Dinner With Laura**

Sara and Grissom took a nap together and then Sara remembered her mother's dinner invitation. They took turns showering and got dressed before heading out to their rental car. Grissom drove them to Laura's apartment. When they got to the door, they could smell dinner cooking.

"Smells good," Grissom said.

"Well let's get inside so we can eat instead of just standing out here," Sara knocked on the door.

"Sara, Dr. Grissom," Laura greeted them.

"Please, call me Gil, Mrs. Sidle," Grissom said.

"Only if you call me Laura," Laura smiled.

"Sounds like a fair trade," Grissom returned the smile.

"What's for dinner?" Sara asked.

"Well, a little birdie told me that you were a vegetarian, dear, so I made some vegetarian dishes for us," Laura explained.

"I told her after we ordered the other night at the restaurant, you went to the bathroom and she thought it was funny that you only ordered a salad," Grissom added.

"You two take a seat at the table, I'll bring the food over," Laura instructed, "what can I get you to drink?"

"Whatever kind of soda you have is fine," Grissom replied.

"Same for me," Sara added.

"Okay, I'll be back in a moment," Laura headed into the kitchen, grabbed a couple cans of pop and the pot of vegetarian soup she had made.

There was already bread, butter and dishes set out on the table. Once everyone got situated with their food and drinks they began to talk about lots of different things and invariably ended up talking about Sara's childhood.

"Sara was a very smart little girl," Laura said.

"I can imagine," Grissom winked at Sara.

"I always knew that she was going to be very smart. When she was younger, she spent all her free time at the library instead of hanging out with other kids her age. Her father and I worried for a while that she wasn't spending enough time with people her age, but Sara was much more at home reading books," Laura told them.

"The other kids wanted to run around and play tag, I was more interested in learning," Sara defended.

"Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure if you meet my mother, she'll tell you all sorts of strange things that I did as a child," Grissom said.

"What sort of things?" Sara was curious. She had never really heard him mention his childhood before.

"Like when I was a kid, I'd go to the beach and find a dead seagull or possibly a dead stray pet and I'd drag it home to perform autopsies," Grissom shook his head.

"Now that is a strange thing for a child to do," Laura raised her eyebrows.

"Oh that's not all," Grissom smiled, "when I got older, the local police would bring me in to help them with animal autopsies. I was the local expert, I guess."

"And I thought my Sara was weird creating business models for our bed and breakfast," Laura laughed.

"I thought that if they only made a few management changes, they could easily turn one bed and breakfast into a chain. Mom and dad were not really interested in that. They just enjoyed running the one place," Sara explained.

"You were nine years old Sara!" Laura exclaimed.

"You were creating business models as a nine year old?" Grissom chuckled.

"Yes, like I said, I spent a lot of time reading as a kid," Sara said.

"I remember one time, you must have been about five years old, Sara. Your father and I wanted to take you to the zoo, we thought it would be so fun. Then when we were in the big cat house, you just disappeared. We freaked out and thought you were gone, someone had kidnapped you or something. We spent a good half hour looking for you. Do you remember where we found you?" Laura asked.

"No, I don't remember this at all," Sara shook her head.

Laura laughed, "You spotted the monkeys on their little outdoor island and you wandered over to them. It was maybe 20 feet away from the entrance to the big cat exhibit. I guess we didn't see you walk away. One of the monkeys was sitting on the edge of the island with some food in his hand. He was staring right back at you and I guess you were mesmerized by him. I was never more relieved than when we found you. We were about to call the police, we were so worried."

"Sounds like you were a little trouble-maker," Grissom grinned at Sara.

"I don't even remember this," Sara laughed, "I guess I was fascinated by the monkeys. You know if something catches your attention just right, you can suddenly forget all your surroundings."

"Scientists have a way of losing themselves in whatever they're studying," Grissom said knowingly.

"Anyone need more soup?" Laura asked.

"No thanks, I'm fine," Grissom replied.

"It was delicious, mom, but I'm full," Sara agreed.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Laura smiled.

"I forgot how good of a cook you are," Sara said.

"Thank you," Laura stood to collect their dishes.

When the dishes were cleared, they sat back down and talked for a little while longer.

"When are you two heading back to Las Vegas?" Laura inquired.

"Friday morning," Sara said.

"That soon?" Laura asked.

"I wasn't sure if I'd want to stay here," Sara admitted, "I thought just in case things went bad, I didn't want to be stuck here for too long."

"Oh. Well maybe I'll come see you in Vegas in a few weeks," Laura suggested.

"That might be fun," Sara said, "you're more than welcome to come stay with me."

"When you come out, you can come visit our lab too," Grissom added, "we can give you a tour, show you some of what Sara does."

"I'd like that, and I'd love to meet some of your other friends," Laura said.

"Just let me know when you want to come," Sara said.

"Well, it's getting late and I'm sure you two want to be heading back to your hotel," Laura checked her watch, "maybe we can go do something tomorrow."

"Thanks for dinner, Laura, it was wonderful," Grissom said.

"Yeah mom, thanks a lot," Sara hugged her mom.

"Have a nice night," Laura waved to them as they left.

A/N: Expect one or two more chapters. I'm not sure yet if the ending is long enough for one or two chapters.


	8. Goodbyes

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** All of us know that I don't own CSI by now, don't we?

**Chapter Eight: Goodbyes**

Grissom and Sara checked out of their hotel early so that they could stop by Laura's apartment to say their goodbyes. Their time in California had flown past and it was so much better than they could have expected. Sara and her mother were now on great terms and Grissom and Sara's relationship had made it to the next level.

"Oh my Sara, I'm going to miss you," Laura smiled at her daughter.

"I'll miss you too, mom," Sara said.

"Let me just say that I'm so glad you came here. I was afraid that you might not come or if you did, you would be too mad at me to stay for long enough. It makes me so happy that we are even speaking to each other now. You're my one and only daughter and I love you so much," Laura kissed Sara's cheek, "I'm so proud of what you've grown up and done with yourself."

"I'm glad we are getting along too," Sara returned, "and I love you too mom. It's been so long since I've said those words."

"Let's not let it be another twenty years," Laura joked.

"I thought you were coming to Vegas next month," Sara raised her eyebrows.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, dear," Laura assured her.

"Good, I'm sure you'll have fun," Sara suddenly remembered that Grissom was in the room, "we'll make sure of it."

"Oh, I nearly forgot you were here, Gil. I'm so glad I got to meet one of Sara's friends. I can see she knows how to keep good company," Laura turned to face him.

"Thank you, Laura. It was great meeting you too. I've never even heard Sara talk about any of her family before," Grissom told her.

"Anytime Sara comes to visit, you are more than welcome to come along with her," Laura offered.

"Good, I think I like seeing this side of you Grissom, you're always so business-like at work," Sara put in.

"Oh, that reminds me. Catherine called me the other day and said that people at work were getting suspicious of the fact that we left on vacations at the same time," Grissom sighed.

Sara's eyes grew huge, "What's going to happen when we get back?"

"Are you two not supposed to be together or something?" Laura asked.

"No. I mean, it's fine that we're together. I just don't think everyone at work knows that we are having a relationship. Catherine told them to lay off, gave them some story that had them backing away. It's not exactly forbidden to date co-workers, I'm sure some of the higher-ups might think badly of it, since I'm the supervisor and all," Grissom tried to explain.

"How did you manage to get Catherine to defend us?" Sara was confused.

"I told her why we were coming out her, I hope you don't mind," Grissom looked into her eyes for anger.

"I guess that was a good idea then, wasn't it?" Sara smiled. She wasn't mad. She would rather have told Catherine about all this herself, but she had the feeling her story was too much for Grissom to keep to himself. And Catherine was one of his oldest friends.

"I hope you aren't in trouble," Laura said.

"No, and even we are, I can talk myself out of anything with the director of personnel, I think I make him nervous," Grissom chuckled.

"I think we should get going real soon," Sara looked at the clock, "I'll just go to the bathroom and we can be heading out."

Grissom were left sitting alone for a few minutes. At first, they sat in comfortable silence, then Laura had to speak.

"Do you love her?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Grissom was broken out of his thoughts, "Sara? Yes, very much."

Laura smiled, "I thought so."

"Sara's an amazing woman," Grissom sighed, "I'm so lucky to have her."

"You two recently started dating?" Laura inquired.

"Yeah. I mean, we've been attracted to each other for a long time, but I think both of us were afraid of taking the next step," Grissom finished before he could believe the words flying out of his mouth. Something about Laura made him feel free to talk. The only person he felt more comfortable around was Sara, so he decided something must run in their family.

"It's hard sometimes to decide whether to take a chance or just be safe and stay friends," Laura said knowingly.

"Who's friends?" Sara asked, wiping her hands off on a towel.

"No one's," Laura added smoothly.

"Okay," Sara looked from her mother to Grissom, knowing they must have been talking about her, "ready to go back to Vegas?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Grissom stood.

"Goodbye, Sara," Laura hugged her, "I'll be expecting your call."

"Bye mom," Sara replied.

"Goodbye Dr. Grissom," Laura embraced him as well.

"It was wonderful meeting you, Mrs. Sidle," Grissom said.

"Have a nice trip," Laura called as they left.

------------On the Airplane---------------

"So, what did you think of my mom?" Sara asked when they were settled in.

"I think she was a very nice woman," Grissom responded.

"Me too," Sara agreed, "it was weird to think about how long it's been since we saw each other. Last time she saw me, I was a lot shorter."

Grissom snorted, "I'm sure a lot more than that has changed."

Sara laughed, "Did you just snort?"

"I think I did," Grissom snickered.

They were both bent over in laughter a minute later. It felt good to be laughing so hard. Grissom was overjoyed to see Sara acting happier than he'd ever seen her. Sara was glad to see that Grissom could open up to her and act like a normal person too. Overall, the trip had done wonders for them both.

A/N: I think there will be two more chapters. They might be shorter than usual chapters.


	9. About Your Relationship

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** If you don't know by now that I don't own CSI, I have a bridge I'd like to sell to you.

**Chapter Nine: About Your Relationship**

A/N: I'm not sure if there's an actual "Director of Personnel", but I'm having it be a character I made up. I know Cavallo is the director of the lab, but this is a different job. So any who, I made up a name for this person.

Grissom had not been in the building for ten minutes when Catherine caught up to him.

"Hey Gris," she greeted him, "you're supposed to go see the director of personnel right away."

"Okay," Grissom sighed and turned to leave.

"Wait, not right away, right away. Tell me how things turned out," Catherine shook her head, "it's not like he knows you're here."

"It went great," Grissom said, "Sara will tell you about it, I'm sure. I should get to the director's office before he does find out I'm here."

"You're no fun," Catherine crossed her arms.

"I know," Grissom smirked as he walked away.

Grissom took a deep breath before entering the Director of Personnel's office. Mark Tompkins was not a person Grissom had to deal with very often, so he wasn't sure what to expect when he knocked on the door.

"Ah, Dr. Grissom, please have a seat," Tompkins directed him, "and close the door behind you."

Grissom sat in the lone chair in front of Tompkins' desk, "Hello."

"I'm going to get right to the point, Grissom, I know you don't like to beat around the bush. It was brought to my attention that you and a CSI Sidle took a week vacation at the same time. Normally, that would not be a problem, but there has been talk around the lab that you and Sidle are romantically involved," Tompkins stated bluntly.

Grissom froze for a moment, unsure of how to respond, "CSI Sidle had to take a trip to deal with a family thing and I went with her for support."

"I see," Tompkins folded his hands on his desk, "and are you going to comment on the second part?"

"Miss Sidle and I have recently started to see each other outside, work yes," Grissom closed his eyes briefly, "but that's not against lab policy."

"Not exactly, no," Tompkins said slowly, "but you can see where it might create problems. Other people might start to think you're giving Sidle special treatment because she's your girlfriend."

"I don't give anyone special treatment for any reason," Grissom defended.

"I know that, but other people might not see it that way," Tompkins countered.

"Don't talk to me like you're my friend and you don't want to be the bad guy," Grissom scoffed, "if you have a problem with my relationship, say it."

Tompkins sighed, "I can't really do anything about it because it's not against lab policy."

"My team knows that if they have a problem with me, they are welcome to talk to me," Grissom said, "so if any of them think I'm giving Sara special treatment, they will surely let me know. Therefore, we really don't have a problem here, do we?"

"What about people on the other shifts?" Tompkins asked, "here's the deal, since you're technically not breaking any rules, I can't tell you to stop dating CSI Sidle, but I don't want to cause a lot of problems around here, so you are not to work a case alone with her unless there is absolutely no other choice. If anyone lodges a legitimate complaint about you two, there will be repercussions. Do we understand each other?"

"I understand you just fine," Grissom said flatly, "are we done here? I have a lot of work to catch up on."

"We're finished," Tompkins replied.

Grissom spun around and left Tompkins' office, feeling like he had just won something. His relationship with Sara could now be completely out in the open, not that he had really been hiding it before. It was now officially okay that he was dating her though. He had a huge smile on his face as he rounded the corner and heard his team gathering in the break room. He decided to stop in for a minute before getting down to business.

"Well, you sure look happy," Greg spotted Grissom entering the room.

"I am very happy," Grissom replied.

"Good to see you back," Warrick said.

"We missed you. Blondie over there has been running a tight ship around here," Nick gestured to Catherine who was in charge while Grissom was gone.

"Blondie?" Catherine shot a nasty look in Nick's direction.

"Did I say Blondie? I meant to say Miss Willows," Nick flashed his brilliant grin.

"That's what I thought," Catherine smiled, "so Sara was just telling us how well your trip went."

"Oh?" Grissom raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I told them my mom's coming to visit next month," Sara added.

Grissom was surprised that Sara had even told them why they were gone. It seemed that things were really changing. Both of them were suddenly being a lot more open and friendly. Everyone noticed the change and attributed it to their recent admission of feelings and dating. It was working wonders on both of them, not only in their own relationship, but in all their relationships with their friends.

"How did your little meeting go?" Catherine asked, turning to Grissom.

"Fine. Tompkins said that there was not really anything he could do about Sara and I having a relationship. He just suggested that we not work cases alone unless it was necessary, just in case anyone got jealous of Sara and thought I was giving her special treatment or some nonsense like that," Grissom explained.

"The only person around here who would even think about raising trouble for you is Conrad Ecklie," Nick said, "who else around here has a personal vendetta against Grissom?"

"So in other words, nothing around here is going to change," Greg announced, "none of us would be jealous of you two."

"Yeah, we're all really happy to see you guys together," Warrick added.

"If you're happy, we're happy for you," Catherine said.

"Good," Grissom smiled at his team, "I think Catherine needs to come catch me up on where we are case-wise. We'll be back in a little while with assignments."

A/N: That turned out longer than I even expected it to. One more chapter and I think I'll be calling it quits on this story.


	10. Visiting Vegas

**All I Want Is You**

**Disclaimer:** All of us know that I don't own CSI by now, don't we?

**Chapter Ten: Visiting Vegas**

Laura made her much anticipated trip to Las Vegas to visit Sara. Sara was excited for her mother to come and visit and to see what Sara did for a living. The rest of the night shift at the crime lab was also looking forward to meeting Sara's mother. On her first night in town, Laura accompanied Sara to the crime lab.

"Hello everyone, this is my mother, Laura Sidle," Sara introduced her mom.

"Hello," Laura smiled.

"I'm Warrick Brown," Warrick stood and shook her hand.

"I'm Catherine Willows," Catherine introduced herself.

"I'm Greg Sanders," Greg waved from his seat on the couch.

"I'm Nick Stokes," Nick also stood and shook her hand.

"And you know me," Grissom smiled.

"Well it's lovely meeting you all, but I don't know I'll remember any of your names, except Miss Willows, since she's the only woman," Laura laughed.

"Please, call me Catherine," Catherine smiled.

"So I know that Sara has told me you are crime investigator, but what exactly do you do?" Laura asked.

"When someone commits a crime it's our job to go in after the police and collect evidence," Warrick started.

"You know, hairs, fingerprints any sort of stuff that the suspect could have left behind," Nick added.

"And we also analyze the crime scene, look at the way blood is spattered and things like that," Greg said, "we try to figure out precisely what happened even when there were no witnesses."

"Sounds very intriguing," Laura said, "you all must be very smart people."

"Still half an hour until shift starts, what do you say we give Laura a tour of the lab?" Grissom suggested.

"Okay, and no offense, but I don't think everyone should come, it'd be too crowded with all of us walking around," Sara said.

"Fair enough, it's your mother, you and Grissom go," Nick suggested, "we all know where everything is anyway."

Grissom and Sara showed Laura around the lab pointing out the DNA lab, trace and all the rest of the interesting places. Grissom noticed it was time to hand out assignments, excused himself and left Sara to finish the tour.

"What's in there?" Laura pointed to another door.

"Oh, that's the autopsy room, I'm sure you don't want to go in there," Sara said.

"You're probably right. I don't do well with the blood and guts stuff," Laura shuddered, "how do you do it dear? How do you handle the smells?"

"I don't know," Sara shrugged her shoulders, "you just get used to it I guess."

"I don't think I could ever get used to handling dead people," Laura shook her head.

"Every once in a while we get one that's really bad. This one time we found a man that had been decomposing in a duffel bag for a long time. That one made me sick and that was the only one that ever made me sick," Sara explained.

"That's very disgusting," Laura laughed, "but if it's what you like."

"I don't like the smell of dead bodies, mom," Sara rolled her eyes, "I like being able to piece together evidence to find out what happened at a crime scene."

"Oh I was never much into science, sweetie," Laura said, "but whatever makes you happy."

"I hate to run, but we should head back the break room so I can go get my assignment," Sara checked her watch, "if you don't mind I can set you up with Archie or someone because you can't go out into the field."

"Who's Archie?" Laura asked.

"He works in the A/V lab. I'm sure he can show you lots of interesting things while I'm gone. And if you get hungry, feel free to the food in the break room fridge," Sara explained.

"Ah the Sidles," Grissom flashed them a smile as they entered, "Sara, Greg is waiting for you to go check out a B and E in a house."

"Okay, I told Mom I'd set her up with Archie or something," Sara said, "I'm sure Greg won't mind waiting another couple of minutes."

"I don't know, he can get pretty impatient," Grissom winked, "actually, take your sweet time."

"Grissom, that's mean," Sara laughed.

Sara left her mom with Archie who promised to show her a lot of interesting things. Laura said she would be satisfied to just watch and see a little bit of how things worked at the lab. Sara hated abandoning her mom, but she knew she couldn't take her into the field and she had wanted to see the lab. She even said she wouldn't mind the late hours. Sara bumped into Grissom again on her way to find Greg who was probably waiting impatiently in her car.

"Hey Sara, if you don't mind, I took tomorrow night off too. I was thinking we could maybe go out to dinner. With your mom of course," Grissom offered.

"Okay, sounds good," Sara smiled, "if it's okay with her of course. What are you doing?"

"I'm taking the night to catch up on more paperwork. I got behind the other night and I really need to get it out of the way before I take a night off," Grissom explained.

"I'll see you later, and if you're sticking around, could you check up on Mom later, you know make sure she's not bored out of her mind," Sara said.

"Sure thing," Grissom replied, "better go before your partner comes looking for you."

--------------------Sara's Apartment the next night--------------------

"You know what sweetie, I'm still really tired from my flight and the late night last night. I didn't sleep well today because I'm just not used to sleeping during the day. I think if you don't mind, I'll just stay home tonight," Laura said.

"Okay, I'll call Grissom and tell him that we're staying in," Sara picked up her phone.

"No!" Laura said suddenly, "I mean don't ruin your night on account of me. You and Gil go out and have a nice dinner. You're already all dressed up nice. And I'm just probably going to sleep. I don't mind, I promise. You deserve a nice night out."

"Are you sure?" Sara asked.

"I'm positive, I'd hate to ruin your night," Laura smiled, "I'll be okay by myself."

"All right. But tomorrow you and I will spend some time together," Sara promised, "I made sure to get several nights off while you were here."

"See, so one night by myself is no big deal," Laura assured her daughter.

"Okay," Sara gave in.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Laura answered the door to reveal Grissom standing at her door in a suit, holding flowers.

"Flowers for the lovely ladies," Grissom offered the flowers to Laura.

"Grissom, you look…nice," Sara was stunned.

"You look wonderful, Sara," Grissom noticed she was wearing a dress.

"What a cute couple you two make," Laura commented, causing both Sara and Grissom to blush.

"I decided not to join you tonight, I'm still very tired," Laura explained.

"Okay," Grissom and Laura seemed to exchange a special glance, but Sara didn't say anything, attributing it to her imagination.

"I hope the two of you have a lovely night," Laura said.

"Yes, we should be going," Grissom noted the time and helped Sara put her jacket on.

The restaurant Grissom had picked was a rather fancy one. Sara had never been there before and figured he had only chosen it to show Laura the nicer side of Vegas. They were seated at a small table near the window of the restaurant. After they had ordered, Grissom started to fiddle with his suit jacket.

"Need help with anything over there?" Sara joked.

"What?" Grissom visibly jumped at the question.

"You're fiddling with your pockets over there, I thought maybe you were having a problem," Sara smiled.

"Oh I'm fine," Grissom smiled nervously, "but so long as you noticed, I think I should just go ahead and do this."

"Okay," Sara said suspiciously.

Grissom took a calming breath before he began to speak, "Sara, you know that I love you very much. I don't think I could ever love another person in this world as much as I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and only you."

Sara was stunned speechless as Grissom removed a small box from his pocket and produced a diamond ring.

He got down on his knee as he asked, "Sara Sidle, will you marry me?"

Sara stared in wide-eyed disbelief, her mouth unable to move. After what felt like an eternity she finally sputtered, "Yes I will."

Grissom slid the ring on her finger and Sara flew off her seat, sort of tackling Grissom with a hug and a passionate kiss.

"Whoa, Sara, we're in public," Grissom teased as he stood up and helped her back into her seat.

"Sorry," she flushed red.

"It's okay, I love you, remember," he grinned.

"I love you too, and you're the only person I could imagine myself spending the rest of my life with," she said.

"I'm glad because the only thing I want in this world is you," Grissom returned.

Sara suddenly felt like crying. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have this incredible man by her side. He was so loving and caring. It was slightly overwhelming to have another human being feel so strongly about her. She finally realized that she hadn't even hardly looked at the ring.

"Do you like it?" Grissom asked.

"Oh yes, but anything you gave me would be beautiful," Sara replied.

Grissom smiled at her and took her hands in his own, "I'm glad."

"You're so good to me," Sara sighed happily, "I love you so much."

Their dinner arrived and Sara was suddenly reminded that her mother was originally supposed to be with them, "Was my mom in on this?"

Grissom nodded, "Last night when you left the lab, I told her that I had suggested the three of us go to dinner to throw you off. I explained to her that I was planning to ask you to marry me and she was more than willing to stay home. I think she really did need to catch up on her sleep too."

"Did anyone else know about this before me?" Sara teased.

"Only your mother. She's a very good woman," Grissom said, "she said I would be a wonderful addition to your family. The only thing left now is for you to meet my mother."

"I look forward to it," Sara smiled. It felt like she could never stop smiling.

"I suppose we should eat this food before it gets cold," Grissom finally let go of Sara's hands.

A/N: Okay so this chapter was a lot longer than I had expected it to be too.Oh well. I also intended to post this yesterday, but I apparently forgot. I could have sworn I did, but I didn't.I hope you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I appreciate every one of you that has read and reviewed this story. The reviews make it easier to keep writing. I had originally intended to spend more time with Laura interacting with the other characters, but then I decided the second part of the chapter was more important. ;)


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